This invention relates to the field of radio frequency signal reception apparatus of the type useful in monitoring a plurality of electronic warfare-dedicated radio frequency signal sources and to the low energy embodiments of such reception apparatus.
The conventional digital electronic warfare radio receiver can be divided into the three functional portions represented in FIG. 1 of the drawings. The first of these portions at, 100 in FIG. 1, is an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) used to digitize the input microwave frequency signals received on the path 104. The second receiver portion at 102 in FIG. 1 performs a frequency analysis, for example a fast Fourier transform (FFT) operation, by which the frequency domain characteristics of the analog-to-digital converter 100 output signals are determined--thereby enabling consideration and analysis of the input signal spectra. The third receiver functional portion at 104 in FIG. 1 comprises encoding logic, which uses the output of the fast Fourier transform operation at 102 to identify the input signal frequencies. In the FIG. 1 electronic warfare receiver it is notable that the analog-to-digital converter 102 and fast Fourier transform apparatus perform continuous processing of the receiver input signals from path 104. Because of this continuous processing, particularly in the fast Fourier transform operation, conventional electronic warfare receivers are frequently difficult to use in energy limited environments.